Manuel Matos

President

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President Manuel Matos is an attorney with vast years of legal experience. As an attorney with the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff, he represents U.S. companies and international investors in connection with cross border loan restructurings, investments and related litigation. He counsels clients operating in Latin America facing complex debt-related issues and has also advised and counseled numerous startup and early stage companies in connection with seed and venture capital funding. President Matos graduated from Touro Law School where he received numerous academic and public service awards.

President Matos has served on several non-profit boards and committees including The New York Immigration Coalition, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Census Advisory Committee, Institutional Review Board for Human Research at Columbia University, and Dominican American National Roundtable, among other boards and committees. As public intellectual, President Matos has participated in nationally broadcasted debates and has appeared frequently as a commentator on programs syndicated in the major networks such as NBC, CNN, Univision, and Telemundo. He has sat in panels alongside renowned personalities such as Dennis Walcott and Frank McCourt. As a masterful legal expert, President Matos has provided expert witness testimony on immigration-related matters at the New York City Commission and City Council hearings and also served as a feature speaker, forming part of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s New York City’s immigration coalition.

Lizette Delgado-Polanco

Vice-President

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Born in the Bronx to Dominican parents, Vice-President Lizette Delgado-Polanco has a long and distinguished career in government and labor relations, policy development, public affairs, and business and community development. She currently serves as the executive director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) New Jersey Council and vice-chair of the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. Vice-President Delgado Polanco obtained her bachelor’s degree in Labor Studies from the National Labor College in Maryland.

As executive director of SEIU New Jersey State Council, Vice-President Delgado-Polanco oversees seven SEIU locals that represent more than 40,000 members across the State of New Jersey in four major industries including health and long-term care, property services, municipal works, and resident physicians.

Vice-President Delgado-Polanco is a pioneer in many ways. In 2002, she became the first Latin American-descended person to be named assistant secretary of state in New Jersey, thus managing a $41 million budget and directing the day-to-day operations of 11 divisions. The previous year, she spearheaded the Statewide Latino Voter Program, resulting in the largest percentage of Latino votes cast for a gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey. Vice-President Delgado-Polanco sits on numerous boards including New Jersey Working Families Alliance and Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. She is a champion for the working-class whose livelihoods are affected by political, economic, and soc

Rafael Antonio Velez-Pérez

Secretary

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Born to a Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mr. Rafael Velez-Perez brings years of legal expertise to Dominicanos USA. Graduating Juris Doctor in 1978 from the Universidad Interamericana in Puerto Rico, Mr. Velez-Perez was admitted to the Colegio de Abogados of Puerto Rico the following year. During the early years of his professional career, Mr. Velez-Perez was active in the areas of family law, contract law, mortgage, banking, as well as corporate law. Later in his practice, he focused his energies primarily in the field of banking. Mr. Velez-Perez has lent his expertise to effect change, especially within communities that he encounters. Two initiatives for which Mr. Velez-Perez has provided pro-bono legal counsel include Puerto Rico’s indigenous communities and the local Dominican community in Puerto Rico. In addition to pro-bono work, Mr. Velez-Perez has also worked or volunteered his time at prestigious organizations including the Dominican Consulate in Puerto Rico, Chamber of Commerce, and Asociación de Industriales de Puerto Rico, among other organizations. Due to his commitment, Mr. Velez-Perez has served on many boards and committees. In May 2013 the governor of Puerto Rico appointed him to the Board of Directors of the Banco de Desarrollo Económico de Puerto Rico. He also served on the committee that prepared the Puerto Rican Bar Exam

Marino Inchaustegui

Treasurer

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Marino Inchaustegui

Treasurer

A native resident of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mr. Marino Inchaustegui is a seasoned corporate executive with a breadth of experience in international commodities trading, developing complex merger and acquisitions (M&A) transactions and executing operational consolidation strategies. Mr. Inchaustegui holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Georgetown University with a double major in finance and marketing. He also obtained a master in business administration from Columbia University under a full merit scholarship from the Organization of American States. Mr. Inchaustegui’s experience is extensive, having worked in an array of sectors. The aforementioned sectors include investment and commercial banking, telecommunications and media, pension and insurance management, real estate development, and oil and gas. Mr. Inchaustegui has served on a variety of civic and corporate boards spanning different industries including Omnimedia, a leading Dominican multi-media company; Multimodal Caucedo, a Caribbean shipping hub, and Consejo Nacional de Hombres y Empresas, among many others.

Cira Ángeles

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Cira Ángeles

Ms. Cira Ángeles was born in Villa Trina, Moca, Dominican Republic. Ms. Ángeles has been actively engaged in the development of the Latino community in New York City. For more than 20 years she has been providing her services to the city’s private transportation sector. Ms. Ángeles is proactive in her community and beyond. Presently, Ms. Ángeles serves as president of L.A. Riverside Brokerage, a leading provider of insurance solutions that serves the risk management needs of the individuals and companies that frorm the taxi and livery industry in New York City. As the spokesperson for the Livery Base Owners Association, she represents over 12,000 drivers in New York City’s for-hire vehicle industry. In 2012, Ms. Ángeles played a pivotal role in advocating for the street hail livery bill signed into law that expanded legal street-hail service beyond the borough of Manhattan. Ms. Ángeles has received many recognitions for her work. She has received citations and proclamations from the New York City Council and New York State Legislature. New York Senator Dean Skelos honored her as the “2012 Latina Businesswoman of the Year,” El Diario La Prensa recognized her as a “Woman of Merit,” and the Consul General of the Dominican Republic named awarded her the “Hermanas Mirabal Award of Outstanding Merit.” Ms. Ángeles has served on numerous boards including the Association of Progressive Dominicanos (ACDP), the Puerto Rican Family Institute, and the board of Hostos Community College.

Virgilio Mota

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Virgilio Mota

Mr. Mota’s expertise is as a trade facilitation specialist with more than 20 years of experience in international trade, trade facilitation, and policy modernization across continents. He attended school in Georgetown and the New School of Social Research. Mr. Mota is specialized in gaining access to U.S. markets through preferential trade programs and agreements, trade legislation and customs issues. These business endeavors have taken him to North America, the Caribbean, Central America and Asia to promote international investment across multiple economic sectors in the Dominican Republic and Central America. In addition, Mr. Mota has been instrumental in assisting government agencies and trade associations on market access to U.S., Dominican and Central American products. Mr. Mota has extensive knowledge of U.S. customs policy, has worked extensively with multilateral organization such as the World Back, The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and multiple U.S. agencies. He has also assisted the Ministries of Agriculture and Industry and Commerce of the Dominican Republic in the certification process to export beef and beef products to the United States, as well as other sanitary and phytosanitary issues of interest to the agro-alimentary sector of the country. Among Mr. Mota’s accomplishments is the pivotal role he played in drafting legislation and representing the interests of U.S. corporations, the Dominican Republic and Central American textiles, apparel and footwear industries that paved the way for the DR-CAFTA treaty. An invaluable asset to Dominican-U.S. relations, Mr. Mota has devoted years to strengthening the bonds of cooperation between the Dominican Republic and the United States.